Nokia has started shipping a phone that it claims is its “best mobile imaging device”.

Nokia's N86: available to buy in July

The N86’s main photo feature, aside from its 8Mp sensor, is the fact that the phone packs a mechanical – rather than digital – shutter. It operates at up to 1/1000 second.

Mechanical shutters are widely believed to offer superior quality photographs because the image snapped is only derived from the light hitting the sensor at the instant shutter was open.

Elsewhere on the N86 you’ll find a 2.6in OLED display and 8GB of on-board storage, with the option to slot in Micro SD memory cards of up to 16GB capacity.

...but won't go onsale until July

A variety of audio formats are supported by the N86's media player, including MP3 and AAC. The phone also features Assisted GPS – for use with Nokia Maps – and N-Gage gaming.

In terms of connectivity, the N86 will operate over quad-band GSM and supports 3.6Mb/s HSDPA 3G. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios are included too, Nokia said.

Nokia’s keeping mum about how long it’ll take shipments to reach the shops, but retailer Expansys expects to send the N86 out from 22 July for £550 ($904/€645). ®